One-pot synthesis of biodiesel from high fatty acid Jatropha curcas oil using bio-based basic ionic liquid as a catalyst

摘要

This article describes a facile one-pot synthesis of biodiesel from non-treated Jatropha oil (J oil) with high acid value (ca. 17 mg KOH/g). Choline hydroxide exhibited superior catalytic activity than choline imidazole in the transesterification that yields 95 +/- 1% of biodiesel, when the reaction was carried out with 9: 1 molar ratio of methanol to J oil and 4 wt% catalysts at 60 degrees C for 4 h. Further study showed that the catalyst exhibited almost constant activity for four successive trials after being recycled. The main fuel properties of the final product meets the ASTM standards. Moreover, the properties of biodiesel are identical to those obtained by conventional method (US 7,666,234 B2) and can be used as fuel in the existing diesel engines without any modification.